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Australia planning new parent visa

On Friday, the Australian government confirmed it will implement its election commitment to introduce a new temporary sponsored parent visa.

The temporary sponsored parent visa will allow Australian permanent residents to sponsor their parents to stay in Australia for up to five years.

Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Alex Hawke has announced a series of community consultations and called for public submissions to assist the Government with the final design of the new temporary visa and the legislative changes required to implement it.

“The Turnbull Government recognises that many Australian migrant communities face particular pressures through the separation of children from parents and grandchildren from grandparents,” Mr Hawke said. “We want to help families reunite and spend time together, while ensuring that we do so in a way that does not burden Australia’s health care system.”

He continued: “Improving arrangements for parents of Australians to spend time with their family in Australia, whilst mitigating costs to the Australian taxpayer, was a key objective of both major parties at the recent election. It is now important we get this balance right in the design of the temporary sponsored parent visa.”

The introduction of such a visa is a significant shift from current visa options for parents. “I encourage migrant communities to get involved in the consultation process and provide feedback to assist in the design of this visa” Assistant Minister Hawke added.

It is envisaged this important election commitment to migrant families will be implemented by the Government sometime during 2017.